Essay On Cases Summary

Do females engage in crime for reasons different from their male counterparts and therefore require justice system treatment that is also different? Does this also cause them to engage in different sorts of crime activities?
The story of Diane Downs is always looked upon as a deranged woman who killed one of her children and paralyzed the other two for earning points with a boyfriend. There is another side to this story that nobody seeks to know. This is a story of the system’s influenced control over a woman’s life and positioning her for dependency rather than independence.
What would drive a woman to kill her children? The answer is quite uncomplicated. The American woman starts her life under the shadow of her guardians. Unlike her male counterparts, she has several restrictions and expectations heaped on her from a very young age. She is expected to a model child with earlier curfew compared to boys of her age. Her failure to rein in temptation over experimenting with alcohol or drugs is met with twice the aggression from parents than for a boy her age.
In addition, from age 7 she has to be on the lookout for predators lurking everywhere; waiting for a chance to sodomize her. If that wasn’t making things worse, the image that she has to attain to survive her peer pressure through teenage is always priced heavily cosmetics that most parents forbid. The last straw is the criminalization of their attempt to escape from a life of physical or sexual abuse; running away from home.
The story of Diane Downs does not seem very different. She was molested by her father as a child. She ran away from home to marry her high school sweetheart. She was divorced and desperate for a man’s company when a promising partner turned her down on account of her children. Although her act was certainly mortifying, her motives were deep rooted to the dysfunctional home that she ran away from (Rule, 1987).
Women commit crimes for reasons including survival, reaction to a deep rooted problem, self-defense, protection and to solicit the approval of men. The criminal justice system cannot try and sentence men and women the same way; in fact the perspective itself is totally different. Their motives are rarely similar to that of men. For example, Ted Bundy killed for sexual gratification and Velma Barfield killed to support her luxurious lifestyle. Both killers gave into their most fond cravings. Yet, the early life of Velma Barfield was a nightmare compared to the life that Ted Bundy had lived during the same period.
Juvenile boys have records in assault, robbery, drug dealing/abuse, gun violence, sexual assault and substance abuse. Juvenile girls have records in running away from home, prostitution, assault, shoplifting, substance abuse and status offences. Clearly, the girls seem to have a very different perspective of crime. Their involvement in violent crimes is also very low. If more women were violent, we wouldn’t have a staggering influx of domestic violence cases.
Women engage in criminal activity to find their place in society. They look for the security of a man they can depend on to protect them from the incidents of their past. However, more often they get into even more trouble in their attempt to escape since the law has misplaced its priorities. Hence, even today in the age of the internet, women continue to struggle in a male dominated world.
If Diane Downs had a loving father who supported his daughter through love and understanding, she would not have run away. If she had been educated rather than punished for her casual sexual encounters, she would have faced the world with more confidence. Ultimately, she might not have killed her son and paralyzed the other two over the acceptance of a boyfriend. The crime cycle for men and women start with childhood experiences however, the trigger for men is usually a tragic setback while for women it is simply the need to survive.

References

Rule, Ann. (1987). Small Sacrifices. Signet Publications. New York: New York. Pp. 129 – 136.